Thank you for the detailed response. I am not a doctor either, though my knowledge of dieting and nutrition comes from attending multiple fitness camps that involved nutrition classes, and the research I do on my own time. Below I'll give a quote from a nutrition expert and cancer-prevention specialist, Dr. Moshe Shike, M.D., on the subject of low-card high-fat/protein diets.

The following information was quoted from an article on Discovery Health.

So yes, the diet does work... but with a cost that may not be noticeable for many years.

I agree with you on the high protein low carb, large amounts of protein is not good, don't remember the exact details why but the podcasts would emphasize THIS IS NOT LOW CARB HIGH PROTEIN haha and explain why it is bad. However, I've been doing low carb high fat for a good 2 months now and I haven't had any of the drastic "side effects" except for being a bit dizzy. This was due to a lack of potassium/sodium in my body. In ketosis, the kidney dumps a great deal of sodium which causes the adrenal gland to secrete aldosterone to try and spare sodium. Aldosterone trades potassium for sodium so net effect is the body dumps a bunch both potassium and sodium. I can easily supplement this by eating avocados and adding a bit more salt to my food. As of doing this I haven't gotten dizzy.

With regards to restricting calories, I've tried eating the same amount, as I used to with eating carbs, for about two weeks to test this on myself, no working out, just biking on campus, eating upwards of 2000 calories plus. I would feel extremely bloated after each meal but I still lost weight. Then I switched to smaller meals because fat is so satiating. I do agree that calorie restriction will induce weight loss but it ultimately depends on how easy it is for the person. Does the person have extreme hunger or is he completely satisfied? If I were to compare two calorie restricted people, one following the food pyramid and the other one on LCHF(low carb high fat), I would bet the LCHF person would be fine. The body becomes adapted to using the energy from body fat so the body doesn't need to send signals to the brain to say "I'm hungry, FEED me!"

In terms of long term, I know this is only one guy but I only know Jimmy Moore whose been doing it for 7+ years and he is perfectly fine. In my opinion it is really hard to get a study like this done because of funding issues and doctors getting ostracized. Dr.Atkins was extremely ostracized for his unconventional diet. But I don't keep track of all the research going on, hopefully for all I know there is one going on for long term effects of LCHF.